Book Suggestions my Genre

Fantasy & Science Fiction
Both Fantasy and Science Fiction are popular genres for our readers. They are tales of magic, amazing creatures, possibilities of the fantastic...or all of the above!
Fforde, Cornelia: The Last Dragonslayer
Orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo, having run away from their cruel aunt and uncle, decide to hide out in Venice where they fall in with the Thief Lord, a thirteen-year-old boy who leads a crime ring of street children.Book two: Song of the Quarkbeast. 2015 Teen Nutmeg Nominee
Hale, Shannon:Book of a Thousand Days
Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the Lady Saren, shares Saren's years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are as they work as kitchen maids.
Holt, K. A.: Mike Stellar: nerves of steel
Jacques, Brian:Mossflower
Martin the warrior mouse and Gonff the mouse thief set out to find the missing ruler of Mossflower, while the other animal inhabitants of the woodland prepare to rebel against the evil wildcat who has seized power.This is the beginning of a famous and favorite series.
Lerangis, Peter: Colossus Rises
Lin, Grace:Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
McMinn, Lisa:The Unwanteds
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.Book two: Island of Silence. 2015 Teen Nutmeg Nominee
Reichs, Kathy:Virals
Riordan, Rick:The Lightning Thief
Rodda, Emily:Golden Door
Scott, Michael:The Alchemyst: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
Fifteen-year-old twins, Sophie and Josh, find themselves caught up in the deadly struggle between rival alchemists, Nicholas Flamel and John Dee, over the possession of an ancient book that holds the secret formulas for alchemy and everlasting life.Book number one of Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series.
Sedgwick, Marcus:The Book of Dead Days
Shusterman, Neal:Tesla’s Attic
With a plot combining science and the supernatural, four kids are caught up in a dangerous plan concocted by the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla.
Skelton, Michael:Endymion Spring
Having reluctantly accompanied his academic mother and pesky younger sister to Oxford, twelve-year-old Blake Winters is at loose ends until he stumbles across an ancient and magical book, secretly brought to England in 1453 by Gutenberg's mute apprentice to save it from evil forces, and which now draws Blake into a dangerous and life-threatening quest.
Snicket, Lemony: Who Could That Be at This Hour?
Stanley, Diane:The Silver Bowl
Tolkien. J. R. R. :The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, becomes a thief for a band of dwarves and soon finds himself in the midst of a war with the evil goblins and wargs, and forced to make a decision between the call of duty and the pull of the simple life.
Weston, Robert Paul:The Creature Department

Realistic Fiction

Stories about kids like you!
Balliett, Blue:Danger Box
Connor, Leslie: Waiting for Normal
Twelve-year-old Addie tries to cope with her mother's erratic behavior and being separated from her beloved stepfather and half-sisters when she and her mother go to live in a small trailer by the railroad tracks on the outskirts of Schenectady, New York. 2012 Nutmeg Book Award Nominee
Davies, Jacqueline:The Lemonade War
Green, Tim: Baseball Great
Harrington, Karen:Sure Signs of Crazy
While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two. Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home. Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family's Big Secret.
Kelley, Jane:Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya
An orphaned African grey parrot who can speak 127 words. A girl so sick, she has forgotten what it means to try. Fate––and a banana nut muffin––bring them together. Will their shared encounter help them journey through storms inside and out? Will they lose their way, or will they find what really matters? Here is a story that will remind readers how navigating so many of life's desperate adventures requires friendship and, above all, hope.
Korman, Gordon:Ungifted
Palacio, R.J.:Wonder
Ten-year-old Auggie Pullman, who was born with extreme facial abnormalities and was not expected to survive, goes from being home-schooled to entering fifth grade at a private middle school in Manhattan, which entails enduring the taunting and fear of his classmates as he struggles to be seen as just another student.
Pincus, Gregory K.:14 Fibs of Gregory K.
Failing math but great at writing, Gregory finds the poetry (and humor) in what's hard. Gregory K is the middle child in a family of mathematical geniuses. But if he claimed to love math? Well, he'd be fibbing. What he really wants most is to go to Author Camp. "I LOVE math" he tells his parents. "I've entered a citywide math contest!" he tells his teacher. "We're going to author camp!" he tells his best friend, Kelly. Hilariously it's the "Fibonacci Sequence" -- a famous mathematical formula! -- that comes to the rescue, inspiring Gregory to create a whole new form of poem: the Fib!
Stead: Rebecca: Liar & Spy
Weeks, Sarah:Pie
Alice's Aunt Polly passes away and entrusts the recipe for her world-famous pie crust to her cat, which she leaves in Alice's care, and as everyone, including Alice, tries to discover the secret ingredients, Alice learns some important lessons about faith, love, and family.

Mystery & Suspense

Stories that unfold...sometimes suspenseful, sometimes scary!
Popular Student Choices!
Downing, Mary Hahn:Closed for the season
When thirteen-year-old Logan and his family move into a run-down old house in rural Virginia, he discovers that a woman was murdered there and becomes involved with his neighbor Arthur in a dangerous investigation to try to uncover the killer.
Funke, Cornelia:Thief Lord
Orphaned brothers Prosper and Bo, having run away from their cruel aunt and uncle, decide to hide out in Venice where they fall in with the Thief Lord, a thirteen-year-old boy who leads a crime ring of street children.
Goebel, Jenny:Grave Images
When a mysterious and sinister stranger called Abbot Stein walks into the family-owned Alpine Monuments and asks for a job etching portraits for the gravestones, thirteen-year-old Bernadette is impressed with his art, but disturbed by the man himself--and then people in her small town start dying.
Recommended
Baccalario, Pierdomenico:Ring of Fire, Book 1, Star of Stone, Book 2, City of Wind, Book 3.
In their continuing quest to save the world from evil forces, Mistral, Elettra, Harvey, and Sheng meet again in Paris where they must search for the mysterious veil of Isis reportedly hidden in the heart of the city.
Feinstein, John: Rush for the Gold
Two teenaged aspiring journalists who are dating solve a mystery at the 2012 Olympic Games, while one simultaneously competes for a gold medal in swimming.
Hiassen, Carl:Chomp
Hiassen has again set up a cast of plucky, lovable Everglades kooks, pit them against greedy, wildlife-hating outsiders and buffoonish swamp villains, and mix it all up with offbeat humor, swift plotting, and heartfelt environmentalism.
Horowitz, Anthony:Alex Rider: Stormbreaker
Book number one of this fantastic adventure series
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
Pearson, Ridley:Kingdom Keepers I: Disney after Dark
Thirteen-year-old Finn Whitman and four other young teens have been transformed into holograms to be guides for visitors to Disney World, but now they must do battle with the evil witch, Maleficent, and her Overtakers to save Walt Disney World.

Historical Fiction

Stories set in times and places of long ago, sometimes based on actual events.
Popular Student Choices!
Hopkinson, Deborah: The Great Trouble: a mystery of London, the blue death, and a boy called Eel
For Eel, things aren't so bad until that fateful August day in 1854--the day the Great Trouble begins. Soon it's clear that the deadly cholera--the "blue death"--has come to Broad Street, London. Everyone believes that cholera is spread through poisonous air. But one man, Dr. John Snow, has a different theory. As the epidemic surges, it's up to Eel and his best friend Florrie to gather evidence to prove Snow's theory before the entire neighborhood is wiped out. Part medical mystery, part survival story, and part Dickensian adventure, Deborah Hopkinson'sThe Great Troubleis a celebration of a fascinating pioneer in public health and a gripping novel about the 1854 London cholera epidemic.
Levine, Kristin:Lions of Little Rock
Twelve-year-old Marlee develops a strong friendship with Liz, the new girl in school, but when Liz suddenly stops attending school and Marlee hears a rumor that her friend is actually an African American girl passing herself off as white, the two young girls must decide whether their friendship is worth taking on integration and the dangers it could bring to their families.
Schmidt, Gary:Okay for Now
Fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck faces many challenges, including an abusive father, a brother traumatized by Vietnam, suspicious teachers and police officers, and isolation, but when he meets a girl known as Lil Spicer, he develops a close relationship with her and finds a safe place at the local library.
Recommended
Avi:Iron Thunder
Thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll takes his place as head of the family after his father dies fighting for the Union; but his job at the local ironworks, where he helps build an iron ship for the Union army, and his loyalty come into question when he is approached by Confederate spies to sell secrets about the ship to the South.
Carlson, Drew:Attack of the Turtle
During the Revolutionary War, fourteen-year-old Nathan joins forces with his older cousin, the inventor David Bushnell, to secretly build the first submarine used in naval warfare.
Gantos, Jack:Dead End in Norvelt
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
Morpurgo, Michael:An Elephant in the Garden
Lizzie and Karl's mother, Mutti, working at a local zoo in Dresden, Germany, during World War II while their father is away fighting in France, brings home Marlene, a baby elephant that is slated to be destroyed as the Allied bombing grows closer, and when they are forced to flee, Mutti feels they must take Marlene with them, adding even more danger to their journey.
Paver, Michelle:Gods & Warriors
In the turbulent world of the Mediterranean Bronze Age, Hylas, a lowly twelve-year-old goatherd, thief, and outsider, journeys from the Greek mountains to Crete and Egypt, making allies with animals, battling tyranny, and withstanding the elemental powers of the gods of land and sea.
Vanderpool,Clare:Navigating Early
Odyssey-like adventure of two boys' incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail where they deal with pirates, buried secrets, and extraordinary encounters.

Biography

Bragg, Georgia:How they croaked : the awful ends of the awfully famous
This fascinating collection of remarkable deaths relays all the gory details of how 19 world figures gave up the ghost, including King Tut, Julius Caesar, George Washington, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry VIII. Illustrations.
Fleischman, John:Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story about Brain Science
This is the true story of Phineas Gage, whose brain had been pierced by an iron rod in 1848, and who survived and became a case study in how the brain functions.
Freedman, Russell:Lafayette and the American Revolution
Freedman examines the role of the Marquis de Lafayette in the American Revolution, and discusses how the nineteen-year-old defied the king of France to join the fight for liberty in the United States.
Kirkpatrick, Katherine:Mysterious Bones: The Story of Kennewick Man
This book looks at the 1996 discovery of a nearly complete ancient human skeleton along a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, the legal battle that followed over the status of the remains, the methods used to study them, and the surprises that they revealed.

Nonfiction

Often readers are more attracted to nonfiction for pleasure reading. We offer these titles as a possible foray into new territories.
Popular Student Choices!
Fullman, Joseph: Ancient Civilizations
The most trusted nonfiction series on the market,Eyewitness Booksprovide an in-depth, comprehensive look at their subjects with a unique integration of words and pictures. From the intriguing world of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, to the arts of Greece and Rome, to the amazing culture of the Mayans,Eyewitness: Ancient Civilizationslooks at the world's most fascinating societies and the legacies they left behind.
Krieger, Emily:Myths Busted! Just when you thought you knew what you knew
Did you know fortune cookies aren't even found in China? Or that alligators don't actually live in the sewers of New York City? Want to prove it to your friends? This book gives kids the tools to break and bust wild and wacky myths from around the world. These myths reveal a broad range of historical and scientific truths that keep kids learning while interacting with their favorite fictional "facts."
Newman, Aline Alexander:How to Speak Dog: a guide to decoding dog language
How to Speak Dogis a fun, informative, and photographically driven book that helps kids understand what their dog is trying to tell them through body language and behavior. Readers young and old will respond to the irresistible call of the canine in this delightful book that will warm hearts and wag tails everywhere--a must-have in every home where pups are looking for love and understanding.

Recommendations

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick:14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales (short stories)
This book presents fourteen short stories from award-winning authors based on the illustrations in Chris Van Allsburg'sThe Mysteries of Harris Burdickwith an introduction by Lemony Snicket.